The race for Butcher glory is heating up!

It’s hard to believe Waikato horseman, David Butcher is into his 40^th harness racing season driving professionally.

With the lack of race meetings in the North Island and without the travelling of his halcyon days when stable driver for the Geoff Small stable, his days of contesting the driver’s premiership may well be over.

There is however one premiership he very much has a handle on, that being the competition between his boys Zachary and Benjamin, and David is acutely aware of how things currently stand.

“The competition between the boys is what keeps me young these days,” he laughed.

“I’ve only been beaten once in a season by Zachary,” he said.

That was back in 2012 when on the final race of the card and the last race of the season, Zachary who was tied on 113 winners with his father was able to get Jonny Wilkinson home and take family honours.

It was such a big deal it made the news!

David (35 wins) currently leads Zachary (34 wins) by a single race this season after securing two of the last three races last Friday night at the ribbon of light. Benjamin is well within striking distance only 10 wins behind his father for the season (25).

David Butcher heads into Thursday night’s (Aug. 4) meeting at Alexandra Park with a solid book of six runners (five drives) over the nine-race card headed up by two of his own stable charges.

The ever-consistent Caulfied (Sir Lincoln – Cosi Bella) lines up in the Amateur drives race in the first of the night on the back of two fourth placings, the last of which was fairly unlucky being held up by a weakening runner and not finding clear air until the race was all but over.

“He is just a consistent and honest pacer who is a definite top three chance. It’s his first start at ‘the park’ and it might be a bit harder for him being widest out on the gate, but he never goes a bad race,” he said.

In race four Butcher lines his up the stable debutant, Blaze On (Sweet Lou – Victors Delight). The son of Sweet Lou is royally bred being out of the 14-win Bettor’s Delight mare, Victors Delight and qualified nicely at Cambridge a fortnight ago.

“His owner Peter Moriarty bought him at the yearling sales, and I broke him in and did a bit with him before sending up to Zachary for a month and he did a bit of education with him up there. He’s come home again, and I qualified him at Cambridge a fortnight ago. He’s going to have to find at least five seconds on his qualifying time to be competitive and he’s not a bad pacer, but the outside of a full field is going to make it a bit tough for him,” he said.

The first of Butcher’s outside drives is in the third on the card where Mont Blanc (Peak – Danielle Danou) meets an even bunch of maiden trotters. The son of Peak is bred to be good and it’s only a matter of time before he breaks his maiden status.

“He just popped out of his gait last start for no real reason to be honest. The old maidens, it comes down to who trots and who doesn’t and if he steps away and does everything right, he’s not without his chance and is a nice enough maiden, but I’d probably say he’s more of a top four prospect.”

Wild Card (American Ideal – Cathy’s Flybye) was a solid third in the Winter Rewards final last Friday night behind finishing a length behind the talented Zarias. He meets a strong field again this week (Race 6), but Butcher thinks he may have found the key to getting the son of American Ideal back to the winner’s circle.

“Last week was the first time I haven’t used him,” he laughed.

“He went pretty good last week but it’s another smart field and there aren’t a lot of weak points in it. In a seven-horse field it comes down to the run you get and how the race is run. Going 3:20 over 2700m and getting an economical trip probably suited him last week. They have a pretty big wrap on Chimmichurri (driven by Benjamin Butcher) but he can definitely run in the top three,” he said.

Liaison (Love You – Be Seein Ya) completed a hattrick of race day wins when racing away from his opposition last Friday night after doing a power of work to find the front 1500m out from home. He is a trotter in the zone at present and Butcher is excited to see how he handles the slight rise in grade tomorrow night.

“He’s turned a bit of a corner I think and got a little bit better with age. Last week the race wasn’t as strong as the week before, but in that race, he got the lead pretty soft. Last Friday I really had to gas him to find the front. There’s a couple in there only 20m behind him which is going to make it a bit tougher but he’s a definite place chance as well, it’s an even field that and will be interesting to see how he goes.”

The Flying Scotsman lines up in the last on the card and his manners of late have made him a hard horse to catch. While his form line reads pretty poorly, Butcher wouldn’t be surprised to see him fighting out the finish with a bit of luck.

“I probably gassed him a bit at his last start, but he hadn’t been getting around. He can trot a bit and went 3:30 one night at Auckland. He just has to do things right and have a bit go his way, but he would be one for value and there is no reason why he couldn’t run in the top three either,” he said.

Butcher will be hoping for a few of his top three chances to be winning ones with Zachary driving some key players over the nine-race card and son Benjamin driving the talented Chimmichurri also.

The race to family glory will be a fun one to watch over the conclusion of the spring and summer racing!

For complete race entries, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink